Wining Around Town
By Linden Gross, Cascades East Feature Writer

Though Bend is a beer Mecca with more than half a dozen breweries and counting, local wine aficionados can take heart … and taste vinos to their heart’s content. The options range from weekly free tastings at Bend Wine Cellar (Saturdays from 2pm– 5pm), Newport Market (most Friday and Saturday afternoons from 3:30pm– 6pm), Whole Foods (Saturdays from noon–5pm) and Pine Ridge Inn (the second Tuesday of every month) to multi-course wine maker dinners at restaurants all around town. So where to start? How about with a wine tasting venue that offers education and great food as well.

Volcano Vineyards
Scott and Liz Ratcliff’s Volcano Vineyards may be located in Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, but they have a tasting room right here in Bend where they make their home. This micro-winery specializes in Rhone varietals crafted to be well-balanced and food-friendly. An array of awards—including a gold medal in 2009 from the NW Wine Summit and a double gold from the National Women’s Wine Competition for their 2006 Lakeside/Serenade Syrah—attest to the Ratcliffs' wine-making success.
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Though Volcano Vineyard’s tasting room offers magmata sangria, beer, and a token white wine, when you head to there you basically want to think red. A flight costs $5 and is refundable with purchase.

Volcano Vineyards has just opened its new downtown Bend tasting room, located on Minnesota between Wall and Bond, across the street from Toomie's. Information: www.volcanovineyards.com or 541/617-1102.

The Wine Shop and Tasting Bar
A retail wine shop by day and wine bar by night, The Wine Shop and Tasting Bar is “a true representation of an Italian Enoteca, where you can always get a retail bottle, glass or taste no matter what time of day or night it is,” according to the website. The rustic wine shop/cafe, with its high ceilings, dark wood tables, burgundy stained walls and small outdoor café seating, offers over 40 glasses of wine, port, sake and champagne in addition to a variety of olives and artisan meats and cheeses for snacking.

Weekly tastings on Friday and Saturday nights can feature everything from wine makers to live music along with interesting wines. Special events include tastings during First Friday’s Art Hop that highlight a single vineyard. The Wine Shop and Tasting Bar, located in Bend at 55 NW Minnesota, is open Tuesday through Saturday afternoons and evenings. Information: www.thewineshopbend.com or 541/389-2884. Portello Winecafe This is the place if you’re looking for a tasty glass of wine that doesn’t break the bank (all wines by the glass are just $5 on Monday from 4pm– 7pm and Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30am–4pm) or a cheerful spot in which to meet friends over a bottle of vino.

This attractive wine cafe offers one of the top wine selections in Central Oregon, a staff that’s both knowledgeable and friendly, and a menu that boasts everything from baked brie and an antipasto platter to entrée-sized salads and a selection of bruschetta and panini. You can even get a chocolate soufflé, as well as crème brulée, and a chocolate sampler. “We wanted to combine an urban setting and feel for the space with a very approachable wine list by the glass and by the bottle,” says co-owner Lance Newman. “We wanted the same approachable feel for our food. We focus on fresh, gourmet light meals.” Saturday nights feature live folk alternative music from 7pm– 9pm Portello Winecafe, which celebrated its third anniversary in July, is located at 2754 Northwest Crossing Drive, Bend. Information: www.portellowinecafe.com or 541/385-1777.

Avery’s Wine Bar
When restaurant veteran Mary Thompson and daughter Kelly Ramey decided to open a business two years ago, they realized that “there wasn’t really a place to go have a glass of wine in Redmond that wasn’t a bar or a loud restaurant,” recalls Thompson. Then they stumbled on the perfect spot: a small house that would provide a sense of cozy, comfortable intimacy.

The house—which mother and daughter renovated and then decorated in chocolate and green, with dark woods and dim lighting—seats 28 inside and another 28 on the outside patio during the summer. In addition to a selection of customer favorites, the Avery Wine Bar offers a rotating variety of interesting international wines. A modest menu includes bruschetta, small gourmet pizzas, mac and cheese, crab cakes and seared pepper encrusted ahi. Thursday wine tastings feature five or six wines paired with a single complementary bite that can range from cheese to chocolate. “We either try to get the wine maker or someone who represents the wine to come and talk about the winery, how they make the wine, the grapes,” says Thompson.

The cost: $12. Every Friday and some Thursday nights, you can also hear live music as you sip your wine. And a recent open mike night was such a hit that more of those are in the offing. Avery’s Wine Bar, named after Thompson’s grandfather, local inventor Earl Avery Thompson, is located at 427 SW 8th Street; Redmond and is open Tuesday through Saturday 4pm– 10pm. Information: Avery_s_Wine_Bar@mail.vresp.com or 541/504-7111.

WineStyles
Want more tunes with your wine? Head to WineStyles Friday nights at 7pm to order wine by the glass from among the nine or ten selections and listen to jazz, folk and bluegrass. And if you don’t see what you want? “We’re a new business,” says Peggy West who with husband Jerry bought WineStyles in June. “We’ll probably pull a bottle off the wall if needed to make someone happy.” The store offers $5 after 5pm Wednesdays, with any glass on the menu available for just $5 after 5pm.

Also on Wednesdays, the shop is starting something new, offering showings of “Sex and the City” and “Entourage” from 6-8pm on the flat-screen TV in the cozy lounge. Wine flights are available for tastings all the time at a cost of $6 (and are half-price for wine club members). Of course, you can also shop for wines (over 100 priced under $25, and a growing selection of their six wines for $60 options), or pick up that wine accessory you’ve always wanted.

The rotating gallery also offers very reasonably priced artwork painted by local artists. WineStyles is located at the junction of Newport and College Way and is open Wednesday and Thursday from noon – 8pm and on Friday and Saturday from noon to close. Sunday hours are noon-6pm. There’s a $5 cover charge for all music events. Information: www.winestyles.net/bend, pwest@winestyles.net or 541/389-8889.

Allyson’s Kitchen
Friday nights in the Old Mill can only mean one thing for a wine fan—a stop at Allyson’s Kitchen from 6pm– 8pm for a little wine tasting. Each week offers “a new special themed wine tasting, featuring regions, topics and some of today’s finest wine makers” at a cost of $10 for six tastes. Over the last few months, tastings have included a Washington-Oregon face-off, wines from emerging regions around the world, and summertime wines for picnics and barbecues.

As you sip, you can nibble on cheeses and appetizers specifically paired with the wines being sampled. You can even purchase a light supper from the deli counter that includes freshly prepared soups and salads, as well as sandwiches made with the store’s gourmet meats and cheeses. Of course, all you foodies can also shop ‘til you drop among the cookware, bakeware, barware, appliances and gourmet food selection after you’ve finished browsing through all those bottles of wine to take home.

Allyson’s Kitchen is located at 375 SW Powerhouse Drive in Bend’s Old Mill district. Information: 541/749-9974, www.allysonskitchen.com or talk_to_us@allysonskitchen.com.

Maragas Winery
Following a family tradition, Doug Maragas and his wife Gina founded what would become Central Oregon’s only winery in 1999. By 2001, they had produced their first vintage of Legal Zin with grapes from California’s Mendocino and Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley. Eight years later (i.e. this year) their 2005 Legal Zin won gold at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the world’s largest American wine competition.

The Maragas were determined to grow grapes locally. So in the summer of 2007, Doug and Gina and their oldest daughter, with the help of family and friends and counsel from Oregon State University viticulture experts, planted Jefferson County’s first vineyard with 16 hearty types of vines most likely to thrive in our climate. They currently have 35 types of vines in cultivation as they continue to discover which do best. “The majority of the grapes from our 2 ½ acres will be used for sparkling wine because we can pick a month earlier,” says Doug Maragas.

(Champagne grapes are picked less ripe than other varieties.) That will be a change since Maragas winery specializes in “hearty Bordeaux style reds, using the traditional and the not so traditional Bordeaux varietals to make our reds,” according to Maragas. “Our forte in white wines range from southern European style Muscat, German style pinot gris and a new age style of chardonnay—somewhere between northern France and northern California in style.”

For a tour, a stop in the tasting room or a taste on the patio, head to the Maragas Winery located at 15523 SW Hwy 97 just north of Terrabonne on Tuesday through Sunday from 11am–5pm. Once there, you’ll find out what the Maragas family is all about. As Doug Maragas says, “Wine, food, friends, family, great music, kooky art, that about sums it up for us.” Information: 541/546-5464, www.maragaswinery.com or info@maragaswinery.com.

Women Tasting Wine
Every month, 30 women gather at The Jackalope Grill to taste half-a-dozen wines paired with exquisite appetizers. As opposed to a deadly serious event, “Women Tasting Wine (WTW) is all about women connecting with wine and one another,” says Diane Seinko, owner with her husband Dennis of the Bend Wine Cellar and co-leader of WTW. “We are guided through each month’s selection of wines by various wine expert guests...The atmosphere is relaxed, casual, women oriented and just plain fun. Women come away with not only a better knowledge of the wines, but with a growing connection of friends.”

Over the last few months, tastings have ranged from champagne to cabernet. “Bubbles are fun and the most versatile of all,” announced Dennis Seinko, who led that particular event dressed in black tie. “Champagne goes with everything.” The presentation ranged from how and where champagne grapes are grown to carbonation as the group tasted the difference between a Sparkling Chardonnay-Pinot Noir and Roederer’s Estate Brut L’Ermitage while savoring chef Tim Garling’s crab stuffed mushrooms in a prosecco beurro blanc sauce, deconstructed smoked salmon sushi and cumin scented kofta (ground lamb meatballs) brochettes served with minted yogurt dip.

At the Southern Rhone Wines tasting presented by Master Sommelier and local wine rep John Aylward, attendees compared the rustic, fresh Cotes du Rhone from the JL Chave winery, which started producing wines in the 14th century, to the organic, chewy Chateauneuf-du-Pape produced by Domaine Paul Autard. They learned about appellations in France and tried to tease out the various flavors in each wine with help from Chef Garling’s baked Stilton polenta, deconstructed pulled pork sandwich and daube de boeuf Provençale. Women Tasting Wine usually meets on the third Monday of the month from 4pm–6pm at The Jackalope Grill, 1245 SE Third Street; Bend. The cost is $45. Information: www.WomenTastingWine.com or Diane Seinko at dianesienko@bendbroadband.com or 541/388-7564.



Picture-Perfect Picnics
By LINDEN GROSS

There are few places better for a picnic than Central Oregon—and not just because of the long sunny days, balmy evenings, stunning scenery or outdoor concerts. Local eateries and markets make putting together your moveable feast a snap. So you can head to the great outdoors for a meal and do it in style without lifting a finger or stepping foot in your kitchen.

GOURMET OUTDOORS
Gourmet Outdoors owners Tiffany and Joe Farrell love being outside and eating al fresco. For years before they headed out on camping trips, Tiffany cooked their favorite dishes, sealed them in heat-resistant bags and then popped them in a pot of boiling water. It wasn’t until they got snowed in during a horseback/hunting trip a year and a half ago that they learned to seriously appreciate their approach to food-on-the-go. With three feet of unexpected snow, they couldn’t turn back. And being in a wilderness area, they couldn’t chop down any trees for wood. “But it took such little wood to heat the food, we could gather what we needed and we ate really well,” Tiffany says. “The soups and stews I’d made really saved us.” That experience prompted them to launch their idea commercially, which means that you, too, can now eat in style when you’re out on the woods or by a lake. Whether you’re ordering a single meal, a picnic spread for two or enough to sustain a party of six on a weeklong camping trip (as long as you have a way to keep the food cold), just log onto www.gogourmetoutdoors.com, select what you want and Gourmet Outdoors will deliver it to you. You can order breakfast—options include the puff pastry with egg, ham and cheese, an omelet and more, lunch—try the smoked vegetable chowder, or dinner—entrees range from beef stew to white bean chili with or without chicken. Whatever your choices, just pop the bags of frozen food into a pot of boiling water, open and serve. Special requests such as no salt or onions, for example, can be accommodated. There’s even dessert, the most popular being the chocolate caramel bread pudding. Local discounts range from 20 to 40 percent off the website prices. Gourmet Outdoors 541/504-6060 www.gogourmetoutdoors.com

NEWPORT AVENUE MARKET
“Life is short; eat good food,” advises the Newport Avenue Market. If you’ve ever stepped foot inside this gem of a grocery, you’ll know just how easy they make that. From a traditional supermarket in 1983 with a single four-foot shelf of gourmet food, Newport Market has evolved into a specialty food store with all the trimmings and then some. Hoping for a hassle-free traditional picnic? Head straight to the Boar’s Head meats, the finest deli meats out there according to owner Rudy Dory and let your imagination be your guide. “We can do custom sandwiches from A to Z,” says Dory. Want to go French? Pick up a crusty baguette, some pate, a couple of cheeses from the two hundred the store offers, a jar of mustard or drunken olives, and a bottle of wine from 1,100 labels and voila! Feeling more exotic? The sushi counter should help out. You’ll also find spring rolls and, on Friday evenings, coconut shrimp at the back of the store. For those in the mood for romance, there’s a selection of lovely salads—standouts among the rotating repertoire of 70 options include the seafood and chicken salads. Add a bottle of chilled champagne (you can even buy glass flutes while you’re at it), a few grapes and you’re set. The rest is up to you. You can even pick up the two items sure to help any outdoor event: bug spray and the store favorite, a bug zapper that looks like a small electrified tennis racket. You’ll be able to practice your forehands, backhands and overheads as you save the day—and your picnic—from wasps and other flying offenders. Newport Avenue Market | 1121 NW Newport Ave, Bend 541/382-3940

KEBABA
For a picnic with a twist, your one-stop-shopping option is Kebaba. The restaurant, which chef Eric Leyden opened with Pizza Mondo’s John Picarazzi and Steve Koch two and a half years ago, provides traditional and traditionally inspired Middle Eastern cuisine made from scratch. All the sandwiches—including the generous falafel (chickpea patties) and schwarma (marinated, broiled chicken or lamb) sandwiches served in house-made pita bread and topped with tahini or garlic sauces—can be made to go. Ditto for the salads, including Fattoush—a Lebanese classic with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, scallions, parsley and mint, tossed with pita croutons, and lemon yogurt vinaigrette, as well as the apricot and curry tempeh (soy bean cake), with celery, scallions, cashews and raisins, on a bed of lettuce. For a really fun change of pace, however, try the mezze—a mix-and-match assortment of small plates. Your mezze, which is large enough to feed two to three people, will include your choice of: • Three cold items from Kebaba’s menu, such as hummous, babaganouj, olives, tabouli salad (bulgur wheat mixed with fresh chopped parsley, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, fresh mint, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil) and more; • Along with two hot selections, such as Karnabeet (sautéed cauliflower with a garlic-lemon tahini sauce), falafel, a chicken, lamb or tuna kebob and others; • And either the spinach pie with feta or the Cheese or Zataar Manakeesh—hot Middle-Eastern flatbread, topped with a flavorful mix of thyme, parsley, sesame and olive oil. Add a bottle of beer or wine, a specialty soda, a piece or two of baklava or a couple of homemade chocolate toffee cookies and you’re good to go. Kebaba 1004 NW Newport Ave. 541/318-6224

DEPOT DELI
Last fall Chris and Pam Wavrin, who’ve owned the Depot Deli for two years, decided to put their stamp on the Sisters institution. They wanted it to continue to be a place where locals hung out. But “I was really into health food and was a vegan at that point. And here we had a burger joint,” says Pam. “So we tried to keep the Depot what makes the Depot, but add healthier choices and make everything from scratch so that it would be super fresh. We even roast our own turkey breast and roast beef.” All sandwiches and salads can be made to go. In addition to favorites like the Depot Club—turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato served on a French roll or croissant, both of which are baked on the premises—you can opt for a grilled Portobello mushroom sandwich topped with fresh mozzarella, mixed greens tossed in balsamic and basil-garlic aioli on a house-baked Kaiser roll topped with cheddar cheese and green onions. For a lighter picnic option, the guacamole salad tosses diced avocado, tomato, cilantro, purple onion with mixed greens in a house-made oil-free lime-agave dressing. “It travels really well,” says Pam. The Depot even offers organic vegetable juices. Choose from celery, carrot, spinach, chard, ginger or create your own combination. Not feeling quite that healthy? There are plenty of other drink options, including beer and wine. Depot Deli 250 W Cascade St., Sisters 541/549-2572

VILLAGE BAKER
Thirteen years ago, Lauren and Bill Kurzman opened The Village Baker. She had spent her entire adult life working in bakeries. He was a Culinary Institute-trained chef. The couple had lived in Bend for a year at that point, and felt that the town could use high quality European-style breads. It would seem that they were right. Even though they have done no advertising, their small Westside establishment is packed and they’re opening a new bakery on the eastside (on Windy Knolls across from Pet Express) this summer, which will offer cooked foods in addition to baked goods and lunch fare. If you’ve got a yen to make your own picnic sandwiches, starting with Village Baker bread will put them in another class. Of course, there’s an easier way. Six years ago, The Village Baker started offering lunch items including sandwiches (the turkey with strawberry salsa and the free range chicken salad, both on whole wheat multi-grain levain bread, are customer favorites), along with soups and salads (notably the baker’s salad with mixed greens, dried cherries, candied pecans, toasted sunflower seeds and chèvre), both served with a pandura roll. Of course, all you spontaneous picnickers can simply head to the Farmer’s Markets on Wednesday (downtown) or Friday (at St. Charles), pick up a loaf of bread from The Village Baker stand, a wedge of goat cheese, a basket of berries and find a spot on the lawn. “At the downtown farmer’s market, you’ll go to the side of the hill overlooking the river and see every other person holding a chewy parmesan-black pepper bread stick,” says Lauren. “That’s a picnic in itself.” But don’t forget dessert. Try the rustic apple tart, the shortbread cookies (six kinds), the macaroons, the croissants, the cinnamon hives, the cardamom brioche … need I go on? The Village Baker 1470 SW Knoll Ave # 201, Bend 541/318-1054

CROSS CREEK CAFE
Central Oregon’s only beer café offers a full line of food along with its 50 beers—30 of which are bottled and the rest available in growlers. In addition to the popular burgers, Cross Creek Café offers sandwiches that you won’t find anywhere else. The difference starts with the meats. The pork for the pulled pork Panini, for example, is slow-roasted in orange juice and garlic until it’s so tender, you can pull it apart with a fork. But the real secret lies with the café’s 20 “crazy” (co-owner Tammy Mills’ term) sauces, most of which are made by Mills’ mother. The pulled pork Panini features apricot barbecue sauce, as well as a mayonnaise, balsamic and shallot sauce. “It’s really messy but really tasty,” says Mills. “Sometimes you need a shower after you eat here.” Of course, a riverside picnic will work just as well. Mills’ unique sandwiches evolved out of her training as a pastry chef. “In pastry school you learn how to layer flavors so you get more depth,” she explains. “The vanilla in a chocolate chip cookie isn’t a main flavor, but it adds depth. That’s what we try to do with our sandwiches—try to put all kinds of little flavor layers in each one.” Hence the tomato, basil, garlic cream cheese spread on the turkey sandwich. Layering flavors means considering how each ingredient in a sandwich works in concert with the others. So the ham sandwich, which is served on dark nutty bread and drizzled with honey mustard vinaigrette, features pepper jack cheese to provide contrast to the sweetness. Talk about a reason to head out on a picnic! Call in ahead with your order, and it’ll be packed in a box that actually looks like a picnic basket. In addition to sandwiches, you can choose from among Cross Creek Café’s soups, green and deli salads, house-made cookies, brownies or carrot cake, wine and, of course, beer. Cross Creek Café 507 SW 8th St # B., Redmond 541/548-2883
Cheap Bites on the Fly
By LINDEN GROSS